Nancy Whitfield: U.S. Postal Service: Not broke -- just decimated by Congress under Bush

Nancy Whitfield

Published 5:28 pm, Tuesday, February 26, 2013

After the recent articles and letters about losing Saturday delivery, I thought it was time for a reality check. The U.S. Postal Service is not taxpayer funded and not broke -- it's just been decimated by Congress under President Bush.

Since 1971, the USPS has not taken a dime from taxpayers. All of its operations, including the convenience of 32,000 local offices -- more service outlets than Wal-Mart, Starbucks and McDonald's combined -- are paid for by selling stamps and other products.

The USPS is not broke. Indeed, in those four years of loudly deplored "losses," the service actually produced a $700 million operational profit, despite the worst economy since the Great Depression.

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In 2006, the Bush White House and Congress whacked the post office with a congressional mandate, with the goal of eventually privatizing and selling it off to their corporate cronies so that they could, in turn, eliminate the union, deflate pensions and decrease wages.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) forced the USPS to pre-fund the next 75 years of retiree health benefits in just a decade, by 2016.

This is something that is not required of any other federal government agency or private corporation. Not to mention that there is no actuarial justification for such an accelerated schedule to pre-fund this future obligation.

PAEA effectively forces the USPS to pre-fund retiree health benefits for some of its future employees who haven't even been born yet!

As a result, the USPS pays at least $5.5 billion each year into a fund for 75 years of future retiree health benefits in addition to paying $2.6 billion for the employer's share of insurance premiums for the Postal Service's current retirees.

If Congress were to reverse PAEA and return the billions owed to the USPS, the U.S. Postal Service would not be facing a financial crisis.

Since the enactment of PAEA, the USPS has realized net losses of $41 billion, nearly 80 percent of which can be attributed to PAEA's unreasonable pre-funding requirement.

The USPS is the only large corporation that does not receive tax dollars or subsidies from the federal government (it has been self-sustaining) and which is a net creditor of Uncle Sam. Despite these facts, Congress has refused to act to fix the USPS's financial crisis.

The postal service employs 130,000 veterans, 49,000 who are disabled. It is the single largest business with a union workforce.

It receives no money from taxes, which cannot be said of large oil companies and corporations that take federal subsidies and bailouts while outsourcing jobs to foreign countries.

When has the Pentagon ever made a profit? Never, nor does anyone suggest it should.

Neither has the FBI, Centers for Disease Control, FDA, State Department, FEMA, Park Service, etc. Producing a profit is not the purpose of government -- its purpose is service.

The postal service was established in the U.S. Constitution. Let's honor its long-standing heritage with the truth.